Improved wick-trimmer



PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. BROOKS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED WICK-TRININIER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,d03, dated March 27,1866.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. BRooKs,

i of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Trimmers for Lamp- Wicks; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification.

In the burning of kerosene and other oils for illuminating purposes theimportance and necessity of an even trimming of the wicks to the lampsused are too well known to all persons to need a particular enumerationherein, and there has long been a desire for the production of somesuitable and simple implement by which the wicks could be not onlyreadily, but always evenly, trimmed, and with but little trouble.

To produce such an implement is therefore the object of thepresentinvention, which consists in a peculiar and novel arrangement ofa cutting device, as will be hereinafter described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings, Fig ure l is a plan or top viewof my improved wick-trimmer. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal verticalsection in plane of line y y, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

a a in the drawings represent the bottom or fra-nie piece of thetrimmer, having at one end a fixed standard, b, which may be eitherattached thereto or formed as a part thereof; o, a lever-handle, hung byone end, d, to and upon a fulcrum-pin, f, of the standard b, andextending therefrom over the frame a in the direction ofits length, towhich lever, and upon the under side of the projecting arm g of thesame, is secured, by means of screws or in any other proper manner, soas to be detached therefrom when desired, a knife-blade, h, with itscutting-edge toward the ii'xed standard b, against the plate lof whichit cornes to a bear! ing when the outer end, m, of the handle-lever isdepressed.

In each end of frame a is an aperture, n n', through one of which, a',when the trimmer is to be used, the thumb of the right hand is passedand placed upon the outer end of the liandle-lever, and then the plateby its other end set upon the top eiid of the wick-tube with theprojecting end of the wick against the plate l of the same, the wickhaving previously' been sufficiently raised in its tube in the ordinarymanner, when the .lever is depressed, bringing tlie knife against andcutting the wick, as is evident, the lever-handle then being retractedby means of the bent spring o, secured at one end to the frame a.

From the above it is manifest that by means of my improved trimmer,arranged as described, the wicks of lamps can be readily and evenly cut,the advantages of which are many and apparent.

The plate l, against which the knife-blade comes toa bearing, I preferto make of soft metal, such as copper, so that the edge of the knifewill not he injured thereby, and also the knife is made of curved shapein the direction ot'its length in order that the wick shall be cut in arounding shape from end to end, as it is found by practice to give a inuch better frame than if cut straight.

I ain aware that Letters Patent were granted January 3, 1865, toII. F.Bond, and June 20, 1865, toC. L. Toplift' for lamp-trimmers havinglevers and sliding knives. This therefore l do not claim; but myinvention is superior to those of Bond and Toplit'fin that guideways aredispensed with and the knife attached directly to the lever.

Vhat Iclaim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the frame a b, lever o g, spring o, and knife h, whensaid knife is attached directly to the lever, and all arranged tooperate as and for the purpose herein specified.

WM. It. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH GAvE'r'r,

SAME. W. RICHARDS.

